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That Was Then, This Is Buju
Part 2: Further, Buju said that he wants to end the “war” between him and the LGBT community and felt -- despite the pepper spray incident at his show in San Francisco -- that his meeting in SF with LGBT leaders, as well as the meeting after the show at the Belly Up, were a good start to that process. During our first meeting with him on the afternoon of the show, we explained that his hurtful statements, no matter whether it is his intention or not, are harmful to the entire LGBT community and need to stop if there is to be true reconciliation. At the end of the meeting we all agreed that posting further positive statements from Buju, on his website and elsewhere, would be a good next step and he promised to do so in the coming days. Based on all that we heard and saw, we feel that there is good reason to remain engaged in dialogue with Buju Banton and to continuing working towards an eventual resolution to this issue. It was very difficult for the club to get this dialogue started, and in the process we endured a lot hateful comments and accusations about our character, but at the end of the day we have seen that many things said about Buju are simply not true today. We feel strongly that if both sides are willing to renounce their harsh comments towards each other that this whole matter can be resolved in a positive way. It is our hope that from this point forward Buju will consistently abide by his professed values, just as we hope that the LGBT will publicly support this process as long as progress is being made. Finally, we are also hopeful that even those who judged The Belly Up harshly will now see that we have been of pure intention from the start, and will find it appropriate to call off the boycott of our venue....and will do so as loudly as they called for it originally. Based on what happened over the weekend, there is no doubt in our minds that canceling this show would have been far worse than staying with it. We are proud that we stayed with what we thought was right, even at great financial and personal cost, and we are encouraged that there is now a real opportunity to bring Buju into the community of hate-free artists. We know we still have work to do, and that success is not guaranteed, but as long as long as Buju continues to make these kind of positive statements we will continue our efforts to heal this rift, without apology, and hope that others will join us in our pursuit of a creating a more hate-free world through music.— October 22, 2009 11:22 a.m.
That Was Then, This Is Buju
Part 1: A Report from the Belly Up Regarding the Buju Banton Show on Saturday, October 17 2009: The Belly Up show with Buju Banton on Saturday was a hate-free concert that concluded with an historic meeting between Buju and a small group of LGBT leaders after the performance. The Belly Up applauds the efforts of the three LGBT community leaders that trusted our intentions and made the effort to bear witness to the concert that evening. Their courage to stand with us in the club, and not just protest and leave as many others did, is the only reason this meeting with Buju was able to take place. These LGBT leaders will have their own view of what happened over the course of this amazing day, but the meeting was a very frank-but-civil exchange and we at the Belly Up learned several important things. First and foremost, we heard with our own ears Buju unequivocally denounce violence and hatred towards gays and lesbians. Secondly, that night we heard a concert that was entirely free of hate and that specifically did not contain the song Boom Bye Bye. (He also said to us directly and explicitly that the song was written in as a naïve teenager in the Kingston ghetto, but does not reflect his view today). Thirdly, we learned that Buju feels misunderstood and misjudged by the LGBT community and is very angry about the campaign against him (justified or not). During our conversation he acknowledged that he has also made hurtful comments, and even expressed regret for his choice of words during last week’s radio interview, but he specifically pointed out that his anger is directed at the leaders of the movement against him and not at anyone based on their sexual orientation. He also affirmed that the following statement, attributed to him by his record label in a recent press release, does in fact accurately reflect his personal view: "Throughout my travels as an artist, I have witnessed first hand the senseless atrocities being suffered by innocent people around the world and my heart goes out to them. I do not condone violence against anyone, including gays, and I have spent my career rallying against violence and injustice through music. At this point, I can only hope that my body of work speaks for itself and that anyone still offended by the lyrics of my youth will take the time to explore my catalog or come to one of my shows before reducing my character and entire musical repertoire to a single song." -- Buju Banton— October 22, 2009 11:21 a.m.